Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The Name-Change Game-Change

"Who are you calling Marion, pilgrim?"

You know you’ve got a serious image problem when you have to
change your organization’s name to hide your identity. The American League of
Lobbyists recently announced that it is changing its name to the Association of
Government Relations Professionals, because “everybody has that misconception
that lobbyists are walking around with a pocketful of cash and that’s about it,”
according to Monte Ward, the group’s president.

The lobby lobby isn’t the first association to try to hide
its stripes under a fresh coat of paint. Following are just a few of the more lame
name-change game-changers.

The Association of Trial Lawyers of America is now the American
Association for Justice. (Apparently, United Ambulance Chasers was already
taken.)

The Direct Marketing Educational Foundation is now called
Marketing EDGE, because how much marketing education does it really take to
call people when they’re eating dinner?

National Check
Cashers Association is now the National Association of Financial Service
Centers, which brings them up from the Seventh to the Sixth Circle of Hell in terms
of public opinion.

The Campus Crusade for Christ is now calling itself Cru because
the word crusade “has a negative connotation for lots of people across the
world, especially in the Middle East,” according to a Cru spokesman. I’ll bet
it does.

And finally, but the Phobia Society of America is now the Anxiety
and Depression Association of America. I’m not sure what prompted the change, but
you know it will boost staff morale.